Cover Image: Constellation the humpback breaching! Nick Templeman, Campbell River Whale and Bear Excursions Identifying individual animals is something of a learning curve and even those of us who are used to doing IDs over many years can have difficulty at times. Photographic evidence is extremely important to confirm an ID. With Humpback Whales, the…
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Cover Image: Humpback Whale with Pink Krill Blow Michelle Pennell, Powell River, BC Humpback Whales are baleen whales. Baleen, instead of teeth, is formed in fine strands from keratin. Keratin is the same substance your body uses to create fingernails, hair and even some of your skin. Like fingernails, baleen becomes flexible when wet allowing…
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Cover Image: Bigg’s hunting a seal lion off of Mitlenatch Island Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys Whale and Grizzly Bear Tours Transient Orca have been sighted in various waterways from Malaspina Strait and Georgia Strait up through to Calm Channel and Discovery Passage. On at least two occasions, Transient Orca were observed actively hunting their prey.…
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Cover Image: Transient Bigg’s Killer Whale spyhopping near Junction Point Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys Whale and Grizzly Bear Tours Over the past two weeks, many Orca have appeared in various inland waterways from the mouth of Knight Inlet in the north to Howe Sound in the south. Many of these Orca were identified as Transient…
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Cover Image: Bigg’s surfacing together heading around Harwood Island Spit Michelle Pennell, Powell River, BC Orca have appeared in many waterways such as Nodales Channel, Discovery Passage, Malaspina Strait, Howe Sound, and surprisingly in Sechelt Inlet. Many of these Orca are the Transient Orca (mammal-eating Orca) and some observers were able to see them hunting…
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Cover Image: Transient Orca by Separation Head on Quadra Island Jerry Weldon, Campbell River, BC Spring has arrived and so have the Cetaceans! Cetaceans have been observed with a higher frequency during the past couple of weeks, and will continue to increase as the season progresses. Sunny and calm weather certainly makes it easier to…
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Cover Image: One of the oldest Bigg’s male, T087, heading north near Black Creek Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys Whale and Grizzly Bear Tours Over the past two weeks, Orca have appeared as far south as the Sunshine Coast near Gibsons and as far north as Phillips Arm. Some of them were identified as Transient Orca…
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Cover Image: Pacific White Sided Dolphins jumping about on a foggy day Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys Whale and Grizzly Bear Tours Starting on Valentine’s Day, a number of Pacific White-Sided dolphins appeared off of Powell River, and many of them were spotted on and off for over a week between Powell River and Texada Island.…
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Cover Image: Northern Resident Orca heading north past a snowy Grief Point Michelle Pennell, Powell River, BC Northern Resident Killer Whales, the A23s and possibly even some others have made an appearance this winter. This is not a common yearly practice for them. Last year around this time we only confirmed the A42 family up…
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Cover Image: Orcas tail slapping in unison Jos Krynen, Eagle Eye Adventures An exciting part of whale watching is seeing the tails (called flukes) of whales coming out of the water as the animals dive. Some whales like to perform tail slaps, that is an animal will raise its tail out of the water and…
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Cover Image: Two Killer Whales breaking the surface for a breath Jos Krynen, Eagle Eye Adventures Weather seems to play a part in the number of reports that come in to our system, and we have had weather. Between storms, downpours, and fog, we still managed a few beautiful days to see whales and dolphins.…
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Cover Image: Humpback fluking off of Powell River Westview Harbour Michelle Pennell, Powell River, BC Happy New Year! Whales and dolphins have been sighted around Nanaimo, Powell River, Lund, and waterways around Johnstone Strait. Many of these sightings took place from land; with patience and diligence in scanning waterways from land, one can often see…
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Ever wonder what whales do during stormy weather? So do we, but what we have seen, is how some appear to enjoy playing in rough seas. We’ve seen Humpbacks crash head on into waves over and over, which may be a good method, as is breaching, to rid themselves from any parasites. Orca, being a…
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Cover Image: Three Humpbacks surfacing together near Myrtle Rocks Michelle Pennell, Powell River, BC Of the 74 sightings included in this issue, 50 sightings (over 70%) are of Humpback whales. Humpback whales have remained, and makes us wonder if some of them will stay over the winter and thus year-round in the area. During the…
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Cover Image: Humpback and Bigg’s together between Savary Island and Harwood Island Michelle Pennell, Powell River, BC Whalers in the past would shout out “Thar She Blows!” when the spouts of whales were seen, creating excitement and action for the sailers to go out to catch the whale. Presently, “Thar She Blows!” can indicate to…
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Cover Image: Bigg’s heading south by Sliammon Michelle Pennell, Powell River, BC Mark your calendar for our World of Whales 2018. two day event November 16 Presentations and Workshops on the 17th. Deadline for workshop registration has been stretched till noon Nov. 9th! We hope to see you there.A number of Transient Bigg’s Orca families…
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Cover Image: Humpback feasting on krill Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys Whale and Grizzly Bear Tours Humpback whales have stayed in the area and have expanded their range with many appearing in Desolation Sound, off of Powell River, and some as far south off of Bowen Island. Many Humpbacks were observed in Sutil Channel similar to…
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Cover Image: Humpback poking its head out near Sentry Shoal Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys Whale and Grizzly Bear Tours Looking at our maps, there is a definite area that the Humpback Whales are favouring. The area where there are minimal to no sightings are where the commercial draggers have been running. What do the draggers…
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